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Why is there's no real action taken to help Darfur
by user Layla Crossposted from The HILL Chronicles The humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur will deteriorate this year unless key political decisions involving the government, the Darfurian rebel groups and the international community are urgently taken. "Unless there is increased recognition, within Sudan and internationally, of the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, we will be faced with a huge, long-term human tragedy," Tom Arnold, Chief Executive of a key international NGO, Concern Worldwide, said. "The only way to prevent this is for urgent political action to improve security in the short term and to start a meaningful longer-term peace process." Such action would require a meaningful peace process between the Sudanese government and the non-signatories to the Darfur Peace Agreement. Adherence by all sides to the recently announced 60-day ceasefire and the early deployment of the proposed African Union/United Nations hybrid force to increase security and improve the protection of the civilian population would be important first steps. As of yet nothing is being done, no action is being taken and Darfur remains in a stalemate. The new United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki Moon, lists Darfur among his top priorities. But where that lies on his list is questionable. It obviously is not his number one priority, which would definitely help in stopping the senseless killing and pillaging in Darfur. The countless woman and young girls raped and murdered, the young children dying of hunger - it is nothing less than genocide. Jody Williams, the U.S. anti-landmine campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner, will lead a team of United Nations investigators to investigate killings, rapes, destruction of villages and mass flight in Darfur. The team of six was appointed after more than a month of protracted private negotiations among members of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has shied away from criticizing the Sudanese government for its role in the rights abuses. Differences between some African and Arab states on the one hand, and Western diplomats on the other, forced the revision of the list several times. Western governments and human rights campaigners have said diplomats involved in the debate within the council should not be sent to Darfur to preserve the mission’s objectivity. In the interim countless die, countless go hungry, and countless more suffer untold atrocities that none in the west can even fathom. So why has this been allowed to continue for years with intervention failing for the most part? In the closing days of last year, the president sent a message to Sudan’s commander in chief, Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, that if he did not accept the U.N. plan to end the genocide in Darfur by Jan. 1, there would be consequences. And the president’s special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, said that if al-Bashir continued to stonewall, the Bush administration would implement its “Plan B.” However, because “Plan B” is classified, we don’t know the details. We are still left with very few answers and or solutions. The images from Sudan are horrific: wounded, starving, diseased adults; skeletal, dying infants. Some people have referred to this as "ethnic cleansing," and the U.S. called it "genocide." Since 2003, an estimated 400,000 Africans have been massacred by the state-sanctioned Janjaweed ("men on horses"), many of them through savage torture. Many men had their eyes poked out. Countless women were raped, and if they refused, their arms and legs were broken. Children were mutilated while others perished from famine and disease. Two million people have been displaced from their homes and villages. The situation is complicated. The semi cease-fire attempts have been broken both by the Janjaweed and by the rebels who oppose the government. Yet it is incomprehensible that U.S. and world leaders find any item to be more important and urgent than genocide in Sudan. And all Ban can say is that Darfur is on his "list of top priorities"? Until governments around the world face what is happening in Darfur - the genocide will continue as it has been and countless peoples blood will be on the hands of those governments around the world that turned a deaf ear and a blind eye. Why is there no real action taken to help Darfur? Do we really want to allow a modern day Auschwitz to continue? Have we not learned the lessons of the past? It is sad that one must have to ask these questions - because obviously if lessons were learned, they would not be being repeated today - let alone allowed to continue. __NOEDITSECTION__ Category: Opinions Category: Opinions by User Layla Category: February 7, 2007 Category: Darfur Opinions Category: morals Opinions Category: society Opinions From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.